Lets eat!! Our guide to eating at Disneyland

My family has always been Disney fans. I myself have only been an annual pass holder for one year, but my sister has lived in Southern California for years and we have always gone at least once a year to get our Disney fix. Everyone is going to have their own ideas about the best places to eat at Disneyland. Here are my tips and the things I have learned this year about eating at Disneyland.  

Eating at Disneyland can be a bit tricky. You want to save money, but who wants to haul all their food around with them all day? You can of course leave the park and eat, but who wants to waste time leaving and coming back? We have found the best thing for us has been to load our stroller and backpacks with snacks and then eat meals at Disneyland. Here are our favorite places! 

Best places to eat: 

• Refreshment Corner: (we call it Coke corner) We love getting flavored sodas, stuffed cream cheese and jalapeno soft pretzels and mac&cheese covered hot dogs. 
• Corn dog Castle: You can order corn dogs at a number of places around the parks, and believe me I have tried all of them. My favorite place to order them is at Corn Dog Castle. 
• Stage door cafe: This item is not on the menu but you can definitely order them. My hubby's favorite thing to order are the mozzarella cheese sticks. They are good and you get about 6 full size string cheese. 
• Hungry Bear Restaurant: This place has some healthier choices; including my favorite (which are not so healthy) sweet potato french fries and the fried green tomatoes sandwich. Every time we have come this place is not very busy, is in a great location overlooking Tom Sawyers island, and the train passes by as well. 
•  Begal BBQ: This place is pretty busy, but it is pretty inexpensive for a good snack or meal. My favorite skewers to order are the safari skewer (which is bacon wrapped asparagus), the banyan beef skewer (a spicy beef), and the outback vegetable skewer. They are about $4 a skewer so not bad for a meal. My suggestion is get a few and share between a few people.
• Tortilla Joes: Now this place is not in the Disneyland park, it is in Downtown Disney. There are so many things I like about this place. They have table side guacamole which is the bomb!! All their tortillas are homemade and just to die for. They have balloon artists come around and make things for your kids (just don't forget to tip). That is my sons favorite part, this time he picked a penguin. You can also see the firework show from the outside (if your eating that late). 

There are a few other places that I have heard are good, but have not yet had the opportunity to try them. Soup bowls, and baked potatoes at Harbour Galley, the cozy cone (reds apple freeze, pear of dice soda, churro bites and the bread cones) 

Favorite snacks

• Jolly holiday Bakery: I love the Matterhorn Macaroons. 
• Disneyland's fudge and divinity
• Tiki Room: Dole whip
• Disneyland churros

Now these are all our favorite places to eat, and snack. If you haven't, give them a try. Let me know your favorite places to eat. Remember all of the sit down restaurants are best to accommodate reservations better if you get a reservation before hand. 

O's delivery story

As you know we used IVF to get our son O, and as you know we were pregnant with twins. As my pregnancy progressed, slowly we started having problems. Contracting at 19 weeks, I checked myself into Labor and Delivery on a Sunday. I felt stupid because I worked there and I constantly saw woman who really had nothing to worry about and would come in wanting pain medication or just come in to hear their baby’s heart beat. Some women came in every week until they delivered. I didn’t want to be one of those women. They sent me home, saying this was normal for carrying twins, and my body was just getting used to carrying two babies. 

 At my 20 week appointment my doctor stated he felt comfortable with how my pregnancy was going and he didn't see a reason to treat me like a high risk pregnancy.  As time went on everything seemed to be running smoothly. During my pregnancy I would wake up around 8 am and either walk the outdoor pool my husband worked at, or join in on the water aerobics class. It was fun, it cooled me down, and I felt like I was doing something good for my babies.

 Around week 23, I woke up one morning from a terrible nights sleep (which was very common for me through this whole pregnancy), but something was different about this night. I woke up feeling blah (I really have no other way of describing it). I had weird dreams all night and felt very warn down. I went for my swim, not joining the water aerobics because I just felt really tired and sick. I took it easy the rest of the day knowing that I was scheduled to work that night. I started contracting around noon and thought that if I slept everything would be fine. I woke up for work and worked all night, but felt contractions throughout the night. Talking with the nurses I worked with we decided that I should go home and have a full days sleep, and if it continued then I would check myself into labor and delivery. I slept well, and woke up for work and everything seemed fine. Once again I started contracting and during work a friend and I went down and got checked into Labor and delivery. They had a hard time finding two heartbeats. The nurse seemed a little concerned, but tried to hide it. O wouldn’t really stay on the monitor and they couldn’t find a second heartbeat. The nurse left the room to call the doctor on call and when she came back into the room she stated the doctor had said to record two different heart rates and send me on my way. It would be up to me whether I would stay at work or go home and get some sleep. 

The next day was our 24 week appointment. That morning Timmy and I gathered our things, for what we thought would be a normal ultrasound. Unfortunately we were told the worst. The doctor looked at C first and moved the ultrasound around a little, and then immediately moved up to O, where we heard a heart rate immediately and saw him moving. He moved back down to where C was and he stated he was sorry, but he was unable to find Cs' heart beat. He said a few things about Cs' position and suggested that we make our way over to maternal fetal medicine (MFM). My husband and I were devastated, both holding each other the whole way to MFM, praying that we would have the strength to move forward. I felt empty inside, that something had stabbed me in the heart. At MFM they performed an in depth ultrasound on both babies. There was no reason they could see why C passed away, and both babies looked perfect otherwise. This was devastating and scary. We were now hit with the worry of what would happen next. The doctors assured us that there would be no reason that I would deliver O early and that he would be safe. 

I was a wreck for the remainder of my pregnancy. I bought a Doppler and I worried about feeling him move, and listened to his heart beat constantly. The doctor suggested that because everything looked okay to continue with our planned appointments, and I did not feel comfortable with this at all. I asked if we could possibly start doing fetal non stress tests (NST) every other week. I started spotting at 26 weeks and once again was assured that nothing would happen to my baby and to continue working and living a normal life. At 29 weeks I went in for a NST and watched the heart strip as my sons heart rate went down to the 90's, I screamed out and the medical assistant told the doctor and once again I was assured that it was picking up my maternal heart rate, and everything was fine. I had trusted my doctors but with everything going on I was starting to lose trust. I knew with my whole heart that this was not true, and something was going wrong. I went home and for the remainder of the day listened to my son. He sounded great all day until I sat down to eat lunch. Once again I heard his heart rate slow, I checked my heart rate and continued to listen to his, which at this point was much slower than mine. The panic I was going through was almost too much. I started running through a million scenarios in my mind and none turned out okay. I knew I had to do something. I called Timmy crying and he instructed me to go to the office to be seen, a small voice in my heart told me that I needed to check into the hospital instead. 

The girls I had worked with for years checked me in and asked me all the typical questions. Why was I there? Could I feel him move? Was I bleeding? What was I worried about? Unfortunately I felt like they thought I was worrying for no reason, I felt like people were thinking “not her again.” I knew deep in my heart that I was there for a reason and if they only knew what I was going through. Now more than ever I know that a mother knows her body best and there is such a thing as mother’s intuition. Because of this I feel like I am a better nurse and when a mother tells me something is wrong, something is. As soon as I was connected to the machines, the nurse went out and called the doctor, the doctor wrote for me to be discharged home. The nurse came back and said “We have a discharge order for you to go home, but because we know you, you can stay until you feel comfortable leaving.” I asked to stay just another 30 min, and then almost immediately Os heart rate went down with her standing in the room. I was so grateful this had happened otherwise I don’t know if they would have kept me. 

That night my sons’ heart rate had a deceleration into the 40’s, for almost 5 min. He recovered and they kept me for a few more days. Luckily at this point the Neonatologist came in and the doctors decided that I would get 2 doses of Betamethasone (a steroid to help mature the babies lungs), and start me on Magnesium sulfate (to prevent brain bleeds for the baby). These days were some of the worst in my life; worrying about my son constantly, listening to his heart drop and not being able to do anything about it. Throughout my stay I had seen so many doctors and they were all telling me something different. I was getting confused by all the statistics and stories and was even told at one point that if they sent me home there would only be a 20% chance that I would lose this baby. Sat night, the nurse I had was sick and only came into the room once to take out my foley catheter and disconnect my iv. She seemed to think that I would be going home soon. Through the night I was re- positioning myself to help bring my sons heart rate up. I stayed awake watching the monitors and every time his heart rate went down, no one came in. I would just watch the charting show up on the computer screen, as if they were doing something. At this point I was so tired, so worried and I was mad. Nothing was being done about my situation and no one seemed to be worried about anything. I had already lost one son, and I wasn't going to lose another. 

Sunday morning I was transferred to a new doctor (the laborist for the day). This was the only time where I finally felt like my questions were being answered and that we were making progress. I got up to use the restroom, and Cs water broke. I said calmly to my mom and my nurse “I think my water broke.” The answer I got was “Why do you think that?” I said “Because there was a pop, and look?”Once again I was bleeding, and the water was definitely not clear. They told me this would not change any plans unless it put me into labor. Right away I was contracting and 15 min later I was 7 centimeters. They rushed me back for a cesarean section (due to where C was lying and because O was breech) and there I delivered both my babies. 

Mostly worried about O he calmed my nerves as he came out screaming, what seemed louder than most babies. That afternoon I got to hold my Angel baby C, he was perfect. I can't tell you the special feeling we had in the room, his spirit was there and I knew he was watching out for his brother. If C's water wouldn’t have broke that day, I don’t know if O would have made it. I feel like he passed away so O could grow big and strong and his water broke to save O life. The techs that day were able to get his hand and foot prints and his hand and foot molds. They will always be special to me. 

My tiny 3 pound baby O went to the NICU, after only a few hours, I was able to get up and make my way to the NICU to see him. He was on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) but no oxygen and had a umbilical venous catheter (UVC), but I was not as worried now that I could see him. My emotions were crazy, I was dealing with the loss of one, the feeling of being detached from O, including trying to heal from a cesarean section and pumping every 3 hours. I felt alone; I felt as though no one knew what I was going through. I felt as though my heart was torn between 2 worlds. I was happy that my son was here and alive, sad that he was in the NICU and sad I lost a son and knew that we would be signing a birth and death certificate at the same time. 

The next few days were a blur, I was overly tired, in some pain and my hormones were a mess. I will always be grateful for the nurses I had in Postpartum who took care of me and listened to me cry. I will never forget this experience; the good and the bad, the happy and sad. Both my boys are so special to me and little O will always be a little miracle. 

Just Breathe

Back in August I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. My case is a little different than most. The first reason my diagnosis is different is because I am 29 years old and second because I have a different genetic marker than most cystic fibrosis patients. My sister Lena was diagnosed with this about 4 years ago, she was also 29. We have always been close and talk all the time. I have watched her fight, and because of my nursing background have been always interested in the medications she takes and the process of the disease.

 My genetic markers are Delta F508 and 3737C>T (I am currently only the 3rd registered in the world with this genetic marker)

What is Cystic Fibrosis?

www.cff.org says it’s a “life-threatening disease that causes persistent lung infections and progressively limits the ability to breathe.” 1 in 4 people have cystic fibrosis and 75% are diagnosed before the age of 2. This disease is very complex. Because of the many genetic mutations and markers, the disease has many different symptoms and it affects each patient differently.

Was this diagnosis a shock? Not really. For years I have always struggled with severe allergies and mild asthma (more like “asthma” they couldn’t ever diagnose). I have always cleared my throat and my mother says I had some digestive problems as a child. I get sinus infections, bronchitis, frequent bladder infections and ear infections, and they usually don’t clear after one dose of antibiotic. I have had my tonsils out and an extensive sinus surgery.

The older I get my allergies get a little worse and my cough gets a little more persistent…very very slowly. Am I a little scared and worried? Yes. Of course!! As you know this is a life-threatening disease. If you read about the disease on most websites it says terrible things about this disease. It says I will most likely die before I am 50, I will be in and out of the hospital with lung infections, and in my sisters’ case pancreatitis. They say I will have pic lines with IV antibiotics, and will lose so much weight, that I will possibly end up having a feeding tube. Do these things scare me? Yes! But after yesterday I left my appointment even more positive than I did going in.   

I had my first appointment yesterday, and I saw so many people and listened to so much information. My hubby and I sat in the same exam room for 6 hours, meeting people and talking about what we will do to control this disease. It was a little overwhelming. We first saw a physical therapist. He talked about my bad habit of slouching. We discussed ways to physically help my breathing. Next I saw a respiratory therapist; she stretched my sides and performed a lung function test. My fev1 is 94%; this is the volume of air forced out in one second after taking a deep breath. This level is pretty good for someone with CF and this will be my baseline. 

Next I saw a dietitian; we talked about not losing too much weight and getting some of my vitamin levels tested. After the dietitian I saw a social worker, we discussed our health insurance, and talked about the emotional support I have in my life. We then waited for the doctor who actually volunteers her time at the CF clinic. We decided that I would get a handful of tests taken: sputum culture, stool sample, ct of the chest, blood tests, sweat chloride test and a glucose tolerance test. After the result of these tests we will decide what else we will do, as far as medications and treatment for the disease.

During the last General Conference for my church there was a talk by Elder Bednar. The talk was about why the church is run by older men, and what he has learned as the youngest apostle of the LDS church. In this excerpt he is asking one of the older apostles, Elder Hales what he has learned as he has gotten older. “What lessons have you learned as you have grown older and been constrained by decreased physical capacity?”

Elder Hales paused for a moment and responded, “When you cannot do what you have always done, then you only do what matters most.”

I was struck by the simplicity and comprehensiveness of his answer. My beloved apostolic associate shared with me a lesson of a lifetime—a lesson learned through the crucible of physical suffering and spiritual searching.

This talk really meant a lot to me, I thought about the process of this disease and where I might possibly be in the next 20 years. I thought about everything that is important to me: my family, my religion, the knowledge I have gained over my life, and what makes me happy. It helped me think about what I can eliminate out of my life to be happier now, and how I can live my life to the fullest. I need less negativity, more family, less filler, more vacations, less cleaning, and more playing. From now on, I live my life like I am dying.  

Ready for Halloween

Who here loves fall, Halloween? Autumn is my most favorite time of the year. I love the crisp cool air (okay, let’s be honest, it is still 95 degrees here in Vegas, but I do love crisp cool air), the hot cinnamon apple cider, eating soup, picking pumpkins, and decorating for the holidays. At the beginning of the week, I took out all the Halloween decorations. I have a lot and definitely more than my husband would like us to have. I have collected them throughout the years of our marriage, and love to shop a good holiday décor deal. 

Where is the best place to buy Halloween decorations?

As I started pulling out all my décor I decided that there are a few places that they all came from.

Target: This is a great place to find decorations for any holiday. I love the dollar spot and always seem to find something there for the holidays. They change the items in the dollar spot for every holiday and season. Sometimes if you are lucky you can look on your cartwheel and get a % off on the dollar spot items, as well as holiday décor. The best time to get Halloween décor is right after the holiday. The first day after they price their holiday items 50% off and then the days following the % off will get better and better, up to 90% off. If you are looking for something specifically I recommend that you get there the day after. 

The items that I have bought from Target are: My light up pumpkins, all my spiders and spider webs, outdoor lights, and my potion labels.

Dollar stores: So many of my holiday décor comes from the .99 cent store as well as Dollar Tree. The nice thing about all of these items is that they are only a dollar, so if it breaks or you want a big collection you save money in your piggy bank.

I have bought my Halloween house collection, my witch figurines, bones for my cemetery, and hands for my zombie gate pallet, pumpkin seat covers, and tombstones.

Ross: This place is great! A lot of the décor you find here is similar to Tj maxx but is a tad cheaper. I have bought some Halloween signs, candy dishes, all my snow globes and all my candy carriers.

At the ross by my house this season they hardly had any decorations at all.  

As you can see, these stores are already having really great deals. The 99 cent store right now is doing a buy one get one free on all Halloween items. Target is doing a deal where you buy so much in Halloween items and you get money off. Note: Every store will have their own prices, these are the prices at the stores closest to my house. 

Homemade: I love a good DIY, If you save all your glass jars, you can make a great collection of potion bottles to decorate (see above picture). Just slap a Martha Stewart potion label on and your good to go. Garlands are one of my favorite things to make; I have one for every holiday. Cut up strips of fabric, wrap it around some twine, and you have yourself a holiday garland. I just picked these packages up in the dollar spot in Target and quickly made a DIY Halloween garland. I am going to stamp a few of the triangles with ghosts to finish it off.  

Decorating your house for the holidays does not have to break the bank. All you have to do is look out for the good deals at the end of the season, and head to your local dollar stores. You will be surprised how cute your house will become with just a few decorations.

 

Always on my Heart

My story of infertility is not much different than a lot of other women’s. 

Timmy and I tried for years, before moving on with infertility treatments. When I was 14 I got really sick one night, but thought I just had the flu like my older sister. I lied on the couch for days with terrible stomach pains, until I could not walk. My mother carried me to the car and drove me to our pediatricians’ office. They were convinced that I had a ruptured appendix and I was sent to have surgery. Once they opened me up, it was clear that it was not a ruptured appendix at all but all they saw was blood. The doctor assumed that I was having a tubal pregnancy and was going to proceed to remove all my reproductive organs. Fortunately for me there was a gynecologist outside the door and they called her in. She identified the grapefruit sized cyst attached to my fallopian tube and they removed only the damaged tube and the cyst itself. They assured me the rest of my life that there was no reason that I would not be able to have babies. 

After my husband and I got married and got closer to finishing school we decided that it was time to start a family. We tried for only six months, but working in Labor and Delivery and with my history I knew something was wrong. We tested hormones and sperm count and other labs in both my husband and I. Everything was normal. I continued with the testing and moved on to an HSG (hysterosalpingogram). This test checks the patency of your fallopian tubes and in some cases clears them of “junk” and the patient is able to conceive without any help. If any of you have had one of these you know what I mean by “Just take a couple ibuprofen.” WOW!! That is one painful test; they should give you something stronger than a Motrin. My fallopian tube was blocked at the top. After talking to a few Obstetricians I felt confident to have a tubal-plasty to try and restore my tube. I was unlucky and the tube was so damaged they cut out my tube to prevent any other problems. 

We knew at this point our only option was In-vetro Fetilization. Now this was just our choice, others move to adoption or deciding to not have children. For us this was the next step. There is minimal funding for In-Vetro so through a lot of research we decided to take a loan out on my husband’s truck, because it was paid off and the interest rates were low. We went through the process with faith and support from our family and friends. We were lucky and harvested 18 eggs, and all were fertilized. Through the next five days of waiting for the five day transfer we were left with 5 embryos. Our doctor implanted the best two, and the rest were frozen. The next three days were difficult, on modified bed rest, I anxiously waiting- wondering the whole time if the twinges you felt were a good or bad thing. We were blessed to find out 3 weeks later that I was pregnant with Twins. We were so excited but cautious. We knew the risks, but were so very happy. As time went on we were able to find out that we were having 2 boys. We picked out names and we started shopping for nursery and house items. We were starting to get used to the idea that we were going to have two babies, but in the 24^th week we were devastated to find that our Corbin had passed away. We were, in the end blessed with one healthy baby boy born 12 weeks early, (his birth story will be in a separate post). After a few years we decided to try again with a FET (frozen embryo transfer). We were successful in getting pregnant but once again were devastated with the results (separate post). 

 The hardest thing about infertility is that I can't stop thinking about it. It consumes my life. Yes; I work, am a wife, a mother, I cook, I clean and whatever else, but it is always in the back of my mind. It consumes my thoughts with continuous questions about what I can do to get a baby. I look up adoption processes, talk to people, think of ways to make more money, think of things that might be preventing me from carrying a baby, things I can try to increase my chances, look up surrogacy. None of these things get me anywhere. I dream about getting pregnant and things going wrong or dream of people giving me babies that I just love. I feel as though the universe is making my decision of being done having children although every other mother in the world decides herself when she is done. I am meant to have children; I love them, I want them and I adore them. I have always been drawn to teaching kids; I get along with kids better than adults, and have always been in Primary at church, or nursery. I have taught them in the pool as a Water Safety Instructor, I deliver them to this world and help them survive their most vulnerable few days on this earth. I deserve to have more and feel I am always trying to convince the Lord that it's a good idea to send me more, and then my heart breaks wondering if this is not his plan. As I get older and older I am reminded that we are running short of money and time. I still have hope, and O and this is what keeps me going. I wish for one day that I will be free of this burden of not feeling fulfilled as a mother and wife. 

Welcome to my blog

Hi!! Welcome to my blog Dreaming Pink and Blue.

Why did I name my blog Dreaming, Pink and Blue?

Pink and blue are two colors that shade my life. Some of my most favorite things are pink and blue. Pink and blue remind me of bubble gum, cotton candy and cupcakes. Pink reminds me of newborn babies, lipstick and my favorite color. Blue reminds me of the ocean, one of my first cars and America.

As a young couple pink and blue adorned our wedding reception. My hubby Timmy and I were married in 2006, we were young, and I’m so glad he is mine; he is my rock when things get tough and the love of my life. We live in Las Vegas, and live for the pink and blue sunsets the desert offers. We love outdoors; woodwork and refinishing furniture, traveling and watching movies.

Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a mom. I loved my mom; I loved babies, so I wanted a lot. I wanted a big family with 8 kids. I know what you are thinking, “8 kids? She must be crazy.” After years of trying, with infertility treatments we were finally blessed with O, our miracle baby. So, for now, we only dream of a pink and blue.

 I am also a nurse, but not just any nurse I am a Postpartum/Nursery nurse. I get to take care of moms and love putting those pink and blue hats on the babies after delivery. It is the happiest place in the hospital and I like to think that I have the best job!! In this blog I will share all my favorite things; my family, our struggles with infertility and other medical problems, nurse life, and everything else that makes up my life.

Follow me on Instagram, leave comments, and e-mail me, I would love to get to know you!

 So as you can see pink and blue are two very important colors in my life, I see life in shades pink and blue; happy and sad, joyous and difficult but all of these experiences make me who I am, and help me appreciate and love life. I live them day to day and dream of them while I sleep.

Keep Dreaming, Trini